


Take This Night (and Make it Evergreen)

by EmeraldEyes8917



Category: Game Grumps, Ninja Sex Party - Fandom
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Decorations, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Kissing, Office Romance, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 19:49:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17148032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldEyes8917/pseuds/EmeraldEyes8917
Summary: A day spent decorating the office and the newly erected tree leads to much seasonal affection.A stand alone Christmas fic for all my loyal readers, which takes place in the 'Walk You Through the Dark Side of the Morning' universe.





	Take This Night (and Make it Evergreen)

Eyes, like a sunrise  
Like a rainfall  
Down my soul  
And I wonder,  
I wonder why you look at me like that  
What you're thinking,  
What's behind  
Don't tell me, but it feels like love...

 

The moment the clock struck the first of December, it was inevitably time to start putting up the office decorations in the Grump space, as was tradition.

Though she was secretly grateful that the retailer attitude had not been adopted with the dawning of the first of November being the day that Hallowe'en was forgotten forever, since she enjoyed that holiday as well as the planned 'Nightmare before Christmas' themed episodes were due to go up on the channel.

She had visions of herself and the rest of the staff, including the DDADDS team being part of a military operation to deck the office out in decorations while Arin cracked a whip, "Deck the halls with boughs of holly, right now!"

Still, her festive spirit was at an all time high as she helped Ali with cutting snowflake fractal patterns, fashioning garlands of tinself for the desks and putting together the makeshift tree.

"It's a shame we couldn't get a real one. There is nothing like that pine fresh scent. Really makes the atmosphere as well as all the lights."

"Totally, but I don't know if it would fit through the door," admits Ali as they sort through baubles to put on the tree after.

"That's what she said."

Matt says this quite rapidly in passing and the two of them share a look and a giggle.

"That comedic timing, though."

Hanna returns from shopping with some wreaths for Arin's office and the front door of the space, then finds a Christmas radio station and the soundtrack of tunes makes the tasks much more fun, and she cannot help but hum along as they string fairy lights along the pinball machine and along the back of the couch in the streaming area.

As Tucker wanders by, she makes a simple request, "Tucker, if you have time later, would you like to film a montage of our decorations when we're done? I can put some music over it and make it nice and festive for the Instagram."

"Sounds like a plan, friend. Hey, this is pretty awesome looking so far."

She hands him some misteltoe and tinsel, "For your desk, if you feel inclined."

He shoots her a mischievous grin, wandering off.

She calls out to the girls, "I'm just going to hang some stars and tinsel up in the Amibo hallway. I think I saw a stepladder in the back storage area the other day?"

"Awesome, we're going to make coffee, you want?"

"Yes, please. After this I'm going to take a break."

As the girls head off to the kitchen, she begins the task of hanging stars and draping tinsel along the shelves, admiring the various Amibos along the way.

The more she worked, the warmer it was becoming in her customary Christmas jumper, which was a dark navy with white snowflakes and a happy snowman on the front.

She hears voices come up the corridor, and on impulse, she hums a bar of 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas', pauses and waits.

No response.

She hums another bar.

Still no response.

She hums the third bar, which was followed swiftly by a male voice saying quite loudly and off key, "And a happy New Year!"

Chuckling, she picks up the box of decorations and walks in the direction of the voice to find Ryan giving her a nonchalant look.

"Thank you for being there for me, Mr. Magee."

"No problem... I mean, that wasn't me singing..."

He ducks back into the editing room and she continues on her merry way.

Sipping some coffee as the rest of the team come and go, she hears the dulcet tones of her partner mingled with bright laugher coming from the recording room.

Hanna stretches her arms above her head, "Let's make a start on that tree. Is it set up in the right place to plug in the lights? I wasn't here last year for Christmas."

"All set, I made sure the extension cord was long enough, and I found another small box of novelty decorations that I'm sure some fans sent in," said Ali, and the three women all let out excited sounds.

She pipes up with a degree of excitement akin a starstruck child, "This will be lovely on the social media. We can do closeups on the decorations and ask people to tag themselves if they recognise anything they sent in."

"Great idea!"

After taking a plate of cookies and some bottles of water with them, the three set on decorating the tree, chatting about the decorations, which varied from colourful baubles with the Grumps logo and painted faces of the crew, to a soft plushie of Burgie, mini Grump logo faces and even a trio of figures in the Starbomb colours.

She marveled at the creativity of the fans, and the stepladder proves to be a much needed help as she elects to take care of the top of the tree, though she is left stranded for a moment without any decorations as the two girls busy themselves further down the tree.

"You need a hand?"

A gentle voice inquires just behind her and to the left.

She flicks her head round, though not making too many sharp movements while on the stepladder and meets Dan's eyes as he stands just behind her with his head tilted and smiling at her in that soft, charming way that made her heart skip a beat.

Feeling her cheeks begin to colour, she manages to say without stumbling over her words, as they were still in those early stages of their relationship and finding the proper way to communicate in work that was not overly affectionate, "Oh, yes please. I was wanting to be brave and take care of the higher branches."

Dan grins at her, "That is brave. But hey, I'm basically a giant, I could have climbed that tree in a second."

He lifts his left arm and flexes it casually, and before she could let out a loud laugh, she parries back swiftly, "I'm sure you could, sir. But safety first. So if you could hand me up that garland of fairy lights and the gold tinsel, please, that would be a huge help."

Dan obeys, lifting up the decorations towards her, and she drapes the tinsel around her neck as she arranges the fairy lights around the branches, and Dan assists with the middle part of the tree, making sure the lights were not snagged or tangled in the plastic pine needles, chatting with Ali and Hanna.

"That's not a Ninja Brian bauble, is it? I think I saw that last year, too."

"It's so cool, isn't it?"

"Dan, we found a blue stegosaurus as well that a fan sent it."

Dan lets out an excited noise, "If I celebrated Christmas, I would snag it for myself, believe me. But I'm... Jewish. Not sure if I ever mentioned that before..."

As she stretches up to fashion the tinsel garland, listening to the bantering and feeling quite light in herself, though not standing on tiptoe or even on one leg, her centre of gravity still goes slightly off kilter and she leans back a few inches.

For a moment, there is a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she could actually fall back and her breathing stops short.

In an instant, there are a strong pair of hands on her waist and she lets out a sharp exhale of surprise, instinctively covering those hands and righting herself back on the stepladder.

"Careful there, baby. We don't want you to get injured."

She trusts herself not to look completely embarrassed as she looks down at Dan, blinking quite fast as he gives her a look that is quite intense and makes her legs tremble, realising that their hands are still touching and he is still holding her so steady even though she is clearly balanced again.

"I'll... I'll be much more careful now. But I'm glad you're here to... help me."

Dan lightly places his hand on the small of her back for a moment, before lifting it away and turning his head, and she swore she saw him beginning to blush.

"I can be quite handy, I mean... that didn't come out right."

"No, I believe you, especially with those hands..."

She says this quite softly, just loud enough that only he could hear and not the girls, with her eyes still fixed on the tree, adjusting one of the baubles for perhaps a moment too long.

After a moment of adjusting the garlands, she says with a nod, "Okay, I think I'm done here."

"Looks amazing," says Hanna with a thumbs up.

Just before she turns to make her way off the stepladder, Dan is by her side once again, "Here, I'll help you down."

He holds out his arms before she can say that she is fine, and more than likely, he was making sure that she did not fall down.

There is an awkward moment where she does not know whether he wanted to take her hands to help her down the ladder or actually lift her down, but she opts to lean forward with her hands on his shoulders and his hands gently held about her waist, and with a single nod, he has lifted her down from the ladder, setting her back on the ground in front of him.

All she can do is blink up at him, slightly dazed at how gracefully that all happened when she happened to be infamously clumsy, but he is still holding her close and nothing else in the world is going on.

"You're quite good at that."

"At what?"

"Keeping me steady, and... holding me."

"Oh...

She gives him a shy look, "I'm not good with words either today, it seems."

"No, no, I totally get it. I like holding you, in more ways than one..."

There is a shift in the air between them as Dan quietly trails off, bending his head down towards her, and she closes her eyes, inclining her head upwards, but the moment is pleasantly interrupted as the lights on the tree are switched on and the few staff members who had gathered around start to clap and cheer.

Arin then appears with Suzy by his side and they stand side by side with their arms around each other, smiling brightly, and for a moment, she feels that intense pride at a job well done.

Dan moves back and away from the tree and she steps to one side with him, and almost similar to a festive montage in a Hallmark film, they look up at the tree with the lights glowing and glinting off the baubles, the branches adorned with the gifts from fans and the array of tinsel.

"Wow... that looks so awesome."

She lets out a laugh, leaning into him with her cheek pressed against his chest and he wraps his arms around her, ending in a hold that was strong and true.

"It's perfect."

Dan gently rubs her shoulder, resting his cheek on top of her head, humming gently, and thankfully, the others were too engrossed in admiring the tree and taking photos to even notice them in this embrace.

Before long, it was time to go back to work and they reluctantly part, though he takes her hands and kisses then in a courtly manner before ambling back to the recording room after promising that he would not be home too late

She spends the rest of the day in a happy romantic haze, with the addition of bright festive lights, carols and decorations all around.

 

Later that evening...

After making tea and settling down with a book only an hour after coming home, there is a jangle of keys and the opening of the front door to the apartment.

She immediately stands and goes to greet him, but before she can even say the word 'Hello', he has leaned down, swept her up in his arms and pressed his lips to hers in a clumsy but passionate kiss that almost makes her knees give way.

She has enough sense to loop her arms around his neck, anchoring herself close to him, kissing him back with a tender urgency that had steadily developed since they had become lovers.

When the need for breath becomes pressing, the kiss breaks and he nuzzles his face into the crook of her neck, murmuring her name.

All she can do is hug him tight, enveloped by the soft curls and that warm, masculine scent that was entirely him.

"Oh, baby..."

"Starman..."

His sigh is a rush of breath at her use of that endearment, "I've wanted to kiss you ever since we ended up standing in front of that tree, but I know what we said before about affection at work..."

Her laugh is breathless, "Maybe we can make an exception for Christmas?"

"Oh, yeah?"

She turns her head to whisper in his ear once she had brushed the fluffy curls back, "Mhmmm... it's a season for love."

"God... you've so much to teach me."

She tips her head back to meet his eyes, "As you have to teach me about Hanukkah."

He appears genuinely touched at this, though admits with a rueful smile, "I'm not the expert on it, honestly. You'd be better off speaking to my dad or one of the Orthodox Jews who surveyed my bar mitzvah."

Lightly tracing her fingers along the nape of his neck, she musters enough feminine wiles as she could, "I'd rather have you teach me. I just know I'd pay attention much, much more..."

With those final few words, she brushes her lips against his, featherly light and he makes a low noise in his chest.

"Mmmm, enough talk about traditions right now... come here..."

He manages to navigate them towards the sofa where he sits down and pulls her onto his lap, tilting his head upwards for another kiss which she accepts wholeheartedly, his hands roaming up and down her back, skimming the hem of her jumper before sliding beneath the thick material to trace patterns on her skin.

She twirls her fingers in the thick strands and gently tugs here and there as he groans with pleasure.

"I wanted to tell you something today..."

"Yes? I'm listening..."

She traces her fingers lightly along his brow, down his temples, along his jawline, down his neck and across his chest to rest on his heart.

He swallows thickly, before whispering, "Your hair with those lights behind it, like when they were hanging up on the tree, looked so beautiful. And you looked so happy, seeing it all lit up. I could just feel my heart bursting..."

Her eyes well up with sudden tears, "Really?"

"Really."

"Oh, Danny..."

She leans in, cupping his face and kissing his lips several times, smiling against his mouth as he tilts his head up towards her, hugging her close to his chest.

Overcome with emotion, she whispers, "You're the only gift I ever need. I have my health, my career, my family is safe and well, but I just need you with me... because you're my person."

Dan gently twists his fingers in her hair, eyes glimmering, "You mean that?"

"With all my heart..."

"Then I'm going to tell you that I adore you. You're my best girl and you are all that I need."

Before anymore sentimental words could be uttered by either of them, there is one last passionate kiss shared before they are standing up from the sofa together, hands holding on tight and making their way to the bedroom, every moment charged with tender passion and longing, the door closing with a soft click.

As clothes were shed, including the festive jumper and their bodies intertwined under the sheets, her entire world is concentrated on the warmth of his body, the taste of his kisses, his many touches igniting trails of fire along her skin and the sound of his voice whispering her name.

This felt like true love, in its deepest and purest form, and she never would let him go.

 

I'm gonna take this moment and make it last forever  
I'm gonna give my heart away and pray we'll stay together  
'Cause you're the one good reason  
You're the only girl that I need  
'Cause you're more beautiful than I have ever seen  
I'm gonna take this night  
And make it evergreen  
Make it evergreen...

**Author's Note:**

> A nice little festive treat as a pick me up, especially for my wonderful reader community this Christmas.
> 
> I absolutely love the song 'Evergreen' by Westlife, which I recommend having on repeat as you read as it is a wonderful love ballad and can add to the atmosphere, but any Christmas music will do.
> 
> This is just a little thank you at the end of this year for everyone who has ever read, commented or posted kudos on any of my works, and for which I am extremely grateful. There will be plenty more to come in 2019 so stay tuned and keep reading!! 
> 
> Wishing you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! <3<3<3<3<3<3


End file.
